Michigan’s Power Players Come Together to Solve the State’s K-12 Education Problems

I had the opportunity to attend the Business Leaders for Michigan and The Center for Michigan’s 2018 Solutions Summit. For me, it was the statewide version of the Coalition for the Future of Detroit’s Children. That is a good thing. The agenda was good because it spent a little time on how Michigan became on of the worst states in the Union for K-12 education, but spent a lot of time covering what the solutions are. Education experts from Massachusetts and Tennessee gave effective presentations on how they got of similar education “holes” in their states.

The common census is something I’ve been saying for quite a while now: It is time for our state to learn how to work together for the sake of our children and our state. One of the sessions shared that this has gone beyond school ratings. With a less educated work force, we will not be able to compete against the world for good jobs for Michiganders.

Another summit high point was the public acknowledgement that Detroit is not the only school district in Michigan that is struggling these days. White, brown and black kids across the state are not measuring up against kids across the nation. For a long time people in out state Michigan assumed that Detroit’s school rankings brought down the rankings for the entire state. That has always been a lie. There are a number of school districts in urban, suburban and rural areas that are not performing to prepare our children for today’s workforce. It’s time to pull it together to fight for all of our children.